nccr international trade nccr ip9 workshop 17 th may 2006 patentability of life forms by...

NCCRInternationalTrade

NCCR IP9 WORKSHOP

17th May 2006

Patentability of Life Forms

By

Michelangelo Temmerman

Tel. +41 31 631 30 80Fax +41 31 631 36 [email protected]

Hallerstrasse 63012 Berne, Switzerlandwww.nccr-trade.orgwww.wti.org

World Trade Institute Joint Center of the Universities of Berne, Fribourg and Neuchâtel


IP9 Workshop





Patenting Gene Sequences

1. Unmodified gene (nucleic) sequences: discovery or invention?

2. Patenting higher life forms (US/Europe) or their building blocks: gene sequences and cells (Canada)?

3. Role of the industrial application requirement (purpose bound protection?)

4. The inventiveness of a sequence isolated by a known process

5. Equation between gene sequences and chemical compounds





Dual Protection UPOV/Patents

1. Excluding plant varieties from patentability (Europe) or allowing dual protection (US/Australia)?

2. Is the European approach efficiently excluding varieties? (loopholes?)

3. Is the UPOV system still needed?4. What about the exclusion of animal

breeds?





Need for International Harmonization

• International patent law harmonization: pros & cons

• Should we leave the sensitive area of biotechnology up to regional/national authorities?

• Special treatment for developing countries?





Ordre Public and Morality in the Patent Office

• Is the patent office the right place to deal with those concepts? (taking into account its limited role in the regulatory framework and its practical limitations to assess risks)

• Concept of ordre public (generally and for biotechnology in specific)

• Concept of morality (generally and for biotechnology in specific)

• Human rights

nccr international trade nccr ip9 workshop 17 th may 2006 patentability of life forms by...

Documents